This Borrowed Earth by Robert Emmet Hernan
For thousands of years, humanity has considered itself the earth's custodian. With our vast potential we are capable of preserving the earth for future generations or causing irreparable harm. For the first time here, environmental lawyer and activist Robert Emmet Hernan provides a comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of what happened at fifteen environmental disasters in ten countries across the globe. This Borrowed Earth is a remarkable collection of stories that cover nuclear explosions, oil spills and fires, chemical spills, polluted air, toxic substances causing awful injuries to children, destruction of rainforest and entire ecosytems. The names associated with these disasters - e.g., Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez, Minamata, Love Canal, Seveso, Bhopal and others - will haunt future generations. At the same time, the stories provide a moving tribute to the courage and persistence of ordinary people who struggled to understand what was happening to them and to protect their families and their environment against these onslaughts. Poignant, moving, and inspirational, the events narrated here show how individuals can counterbalance the negligence and criminality of narrow economic interests that threaten our planet. Their stories will provide inspiration for a new generation committed to protecting the environment, and humanity.
'..His style is readable and persuasive, his points not to be ignored.' - The Good Book Guide 'This Borrowed Earth: Lessons from Fifteen Environmental Disasters Around the World, powerfully depicts in simple, transparent prose, the lasting and wrenching impact of some of the major environmental disasters of the last century, which younger generations may only barely remember. But Mr. Hernan's book does much more. It reveals a striking similarity in the genesis of these disasters that can shed light on ways to prevent them in the future - in particular, the profit-driven development of production technologies with no heed to their health and environmental effects or the environmental fate of their products. One is convinced, after reading Mr. Hernan's book, that the only way to slow the rate of growth of devastating climate change is for governments around the world to assert control over our most basic technology - the production of energy in ways that can lift the world out of poverty without destroying it in the process.' - Barry Commoner, American biologist
ROBERT EMMET HERNAN is senior counsel at the New York State Deptartment of Environmental Conservation, USA. He was the trial counsel for New York State in the infamous Love Canal Case. He lives in New York City. BILL MCKIBBEN is the author of more than a dozen books, including The End of Nature, Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age, and Deep Economy. A former staff writer for The New Yorker, he writes regularly for Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New York Review of Books, among other publications. He is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College and lives in Vermont with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, and their daughter. GRAHAM NASH is the founding member of Crosby, Stills, Nash& Young, a published photographer, and an environmental activist.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780230619838 |
| ISBN 10 | 0230619835 |
| Title | This Borrowed Earth |
| Author | Robert Emmet Hernan |
| Series | Macmillan Science |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Year published | 2010-01-21 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |